"Feeling Like It's Y2K": IT Outage Sparks "Blue Screen Of Death" Worldwide

"Feeling Like It's Y2K": IT Outage Sparks "Blue Screen Of Death" Worldwide

TYLER DURDEN

Bloomberg reports IT disruptions could impact FedEx and United Parcel Service deliveries today:

• FedEx is seeing "substantial disruptions throughout our networks" due to the third-party issues, it said in a statement on its website. The company is implementing contingency plans but said delays are likely for parcels scheduled for delivery Friday. 

• UPS said in a separate statement that some of its computer systems are being affected, and it is also looking at workarounds to minimize interruptions. Its planes continue to operate, and drivers are still on the road.

This follows Amazon's annual Prime Day shopping event this week. 

Update (1023ET): 

With the US cash market underway, shares of CrowdStrike are down about 10%, while Microsoft lost about half a percent. CrowdStrike confirmed earlier its Falcon Sensor threat-monitoring product sparked worldwide chaos and crashed Microsoft's Windows operating systems. 

"Friday's global tech outage is an example of an unforeseen event that market participants always fear, but don't frequently think about," said Glen Smith, chief investment officer at GDS Wealth Management, who Bloomberg quoted. 

Smith said, "While there are sizable declines in the stocks of the individual companies that are closest to this tech outage, we expect the broader markets to look past Friday's outage." 

Earlier, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz posted on X that the company is "actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted." 

The company stated the problem has been "identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed." 

Here are areas often affected by IT outages: 1. Financial Services ( Bank ) 2. Healthcare 3. Telecommunications 4. Government Services 5. Retail and E-commerce 6. Transportation and Logistics ( Airport ) 7. Manufacturing 8. Education 9. Energy and Utilities 10. Media and Entertainment

"The severity of the problem boils down to how long it lasts," said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, adding, "A few hours' disruption is unhelpful but not a catastrophe. Prolonged disruption is another matter, potentially causing damage to companies and economies."

For US travelers, the IT outage sparked widespread flight delays and even cancellations at major airports across the Lower 48. 

Flight tracking website FlightAware reports nearly 1,500 flights have been delayed, with 385 canceled flights. 

"The FAA is closely monitoring a technical issue impacting IT systems at US airlines," the federal agency wrote in a statement, adding, "Several airlines have requested FAA assistance with ground stops for their fleets until the issue is resolved."

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